Back in the old days they said "men chased their secretaries around their desk."

But when I worked, I discovered most women wore low cut dresses; and made themselves as obvious as Monica Lewinsky did.

How did Monica do it? She turned her fat ass towards the president's face. She lifted the top of her thong up over her skirt's waistband. And, she snapped it.

I'm not always sure what Carol Herman is driving at, but this provoked me. I knew Monica Lewinsky showed her thong to President Clinton. But did she snap it? I don't remember the snap. Showing the thong to the President is extremely daring. But snapping? That seems mental! You could try Googling that, but you might end up with repetitions of the myth. It's not in the Starr report, which says "she raised her jacket in the back and showed him the straps of her thong underwear, which extended above her pants." Showed. Didn't snap. Didn't even lift.

But now I'm here at the "Social impact of thong underwear," and — sorry! — I'm not translating it into "prose" for you. But what the hell is this, and why does it get an encyclopedia article? Britannica was never this way!

Psychologist Joann Ellison Rodgers conjectures that "wearing thong bikinis is adaptive among teenage girls because it attracts potential mates". Reporters Alison Pollet and Page Hurwitz observed about that "the most ubiquitous stripper-inspired purchase a girl can make is a thong, a product with a heritage in exotic dancing". The 2000s has seen a rise in the popularity of thongs among younger girls, who have been dubbed "thong feminists" by comedian Janeane Garofalo....

In August 2007 a man in Texas was arrested for being naked in his own backyard. He reported that he was in fact wearing a thong and not naked....

And on and on, with random incidents of thong in the news.

After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, thousands of thongs were included in relief packages to Sri Lanka.

Oh, no! It's prose, though, isn't it? It's just not the kind of intellectual analysis I was hoping for.

And shout may be right women about not wearing their mother's drawers, but I seem to remember the various iterations of women's nether garments being marketed as ever more "cheeky", and you can't get much past the thong on that.

PS As to behinds, I never thought Monica was all that bad. Fuller and rounder than the usual fashion model, but she never seemed fat.

WRT flashing her thong, she seems to have studied her prey carefully; I recall an article describing Willie's mother as a "hip-swinging, shoulder-baring temptress", so Miss Monica may have given the Serial Rapist in Chief a taste of his own medicine.

And, yes, I do recall a couple of references at the time to the snap, possibly in the same article.

Just remember that every time you see a "This article can be improved by..." tag on a Wikipedia article, it means some insider (casual readers don't know about tags) thought the article should be improved but was too lazy or self-important to do it him/herself.

Everyone easily gets to the wisecrack: I think it would be better in poetry. But let's seem some hard work. Take that raw material, and make it poetry. I almost feel like doing that. It's great material.

I think the underwear evolution concept is a pretty good explanation. I have also thought that there was an element of not wanting panty lines to show in tight clothes. My two younger daughters both wear thong underwear although I haven't noticed if the older one has gone back to more standard garments since being married. Both are slim and pretty and that is also a factor.

When I was a kid my panties were labeled Monday through Sunday. I kid you not! They were sold by the box.

I got to wear them before I could fit into a bra. (Which is a whole other story.)

And, my favorite joke was about a little girl who came home from school with a fistful of nickels. Her mom asked "Where did you get those?" And, the girl responded, at school. Boys gave me a nickel to show them I could stand on my head."

So, the mom laughed and said "all the boys wanted to see were your underpants." And, the little girl responded: "I know that! That's why I took them off, first."

The issue is there's a difference between fat, and firm, round, and full. The culture doesn't buy the idea a woman can be well-endowed below the waist, just above it.

bagoh20 said...

I think there is a fuzzy, but real, generational component to tats, piercings, and thongs. Younger guys love it, but a lot of us older guys are really repulsed.

I think there really is an aesthetic issue younger guys may not yet realize. A lot of hippie girls actually looked like so many bags of dirty laundry and guys who got all hot over them 40 years ago wouldn't give a second look to one done up like that today (yeah, I know...).

In the same way, ink or piercings on a woman can look good if done right. How much and where really do make a difference

Janeane Garofalo's tattoos, as an example, define the word, "skank".

Same with thongs. For a young guy, it's all about exposure. A little older and the guy is more interested in how it looks on that particular behind.

WV "stinksmo" (no kidding) the difference between a dead fish and a live one.

At that time I wondered, out loud, about the universal visibility through work blouses of the backs of bras, that is, when that was the style. Everything else seemed to be high culture, and here was pure functional.

I suggested, as a speculation, that it was to suggest that the bra comes off, so as to raise it as a thought.

Reporters Alison Pollet and Page Hurwitz observed about that "the most ubiquitous stripper-inspired purchase a girl can make is a thong, a product with a heritage in exotic dancing". The 2000s has seen a rise in the popularity of thongs among younger girls, who have been dubbed "thong feminists" by comedian Janeane Garofalo....

I really don't have to comment on this, do I? Is there anything that needs to be said that we don't know already? Here - two words: "stripper-inspired." Here's two more: "Janeane Garofalo." Here, let's do this:

"On your other point, It would be embarrassing to be caught wearing panties labeled "Friday" on Monday moring, aye?"

My parents were thrilled I could read. What kid would put on a pair of embroidered panties ... with the days of the week clearly spelled out ... by either putting them on backwards. Or disregarding the day? My gosh, those panties were pretty.

Alaska, right now, is at its most beautiful! And, for relief, the Palin's don't have to worry that Joe McGinniss is camped out next door.

I still have my Ross Perot lawn sign. I wouldn't mind if Sarah Palin runs as an independent in 2012. Heck, I could put out "UNITED WE STAND" ... and, then "ONE NATION"

Bet she does better than Ross Perot!

While the stupid party, in 1976, told Ronald Reagan to go and take a hike.

You don't need pundits when you're at the race track, either. Betting's no fun if your heart's not in the transaction. Then? Well, every race would like just like the other.

While IF Sarah Palin runs ... and, then if she wins? The media heads on TV will explode just like Gallagher when he's hammering away on watermelons.

If you're in the wholesale tee-shirt business ... you'll be able to sell the Hanes white ones ... with red splats on them. Maybe, a few black pits? Because to viewers, Gallagher always brought on laughter.

Sarah can count on me. I'll vote for her. And, I'll put out a lawn sign. (Perot's were made out of plastic. They withstand aging better than cardboard.)

PS As to behinds, I never thought Monica was all that bad. Fuller and rounder than the usual fashion model, but she never seemed fat.

I always thought she was a babe. Warm and cushy, but not fat. Never understood the 'OMG she's so fat and ugly!' business. She's neither, not by a long shot.

Me, I can't wait for a return to a more Victorian sense of fashion. I saw these two girls on the bus one, from a Catholic mission in the Boston area, both decked out from neck to ankle in some lacy dress thing.

Strippers? Here, in Venezuela women use dental floss. Thiner than a g string. And when i said women i ean from 15 to 80. Yes, i saw a 80 yo , at least , with the thong half way. Fat women and slim women use dental floss.. I saw it for the first time in 1985, in a street of a tourist destination city.And not only in the street at the university ,since most women use to the hip? jeans or pants or see trough , they show theirs thongs, g strings , dental floss and most of the time their a..c..

I'm of the wrong generation to pass judgement on these styles, but I will say that the whale tail that women exhibit when they bend over has a certain amount of erotic frisson. I don't get tattoos at all. Why anyone would want to inscribe a Chinese proverb on their butt is beyond understanding. I don't think piercings are attractive either. However, if you are of a certain age, there is a certain amount of melancholy in observing them and knowing that you will never experience oral sex with a woman with a pierced tongue.....Pantyhose were the bane of my generation.

The first person to hear the story, that we know of, was Linda Tripp. Before she went to her friends at the CIA. And, got a "wire."

In the first tellings, Monica said she "snapped" the thong's top. (And, the thong was black.)

Funny, that for the record, it's Ken Starr's report. Which ws the flipper switch that caused Newt to lose his Speaker's office. And, before he went ... the House republican from this district, James Rogan, got sent packing.

You can always tell when stories hit pay dirt. By how many politicians have to resign.

In Bill Clinton's case? He proved the direction the American public took this story.

Some politicians, when they're facing the music, are much more artful than others.

It must be that way, too, for screen tests.

Also, Monica had "knockers." So her need to turn around and snap her thong, meant that Billy Boy just didn't grab out at big tits. He had to be invited.